Just Give Me a Reason
"Just Give Me a Reason" is a song co-written and recorded by American singer and songwriter P!nk featuring fun.'s lead singer Nate Ruess. The song was chosen as the third single from P!nk's sixth studio album, The Truth About Love (2012). "Just Give Me a Reason" is a pop ballad written by both artists and produced by Jeff Bhasker. It starts off with a simple melody played on the piano, as P!nk starts to sing the first verse and chorus, the latter of which introduces drum machines and bass. The second verse is then sung by Ruess, and the rest of the song is sung as a duet. The song ends with a piano solo, similar to the intro. It has a duration of four minutes and two seconds. Prior to its release, the song charted in many regions due to strong digital sales, which was the reason for its release. The song is about the desire to hold on to a relationship even when it appears to be breaking down. The song received critical acclaim, with many critics deeming the song as the best track within the album. The song attained worldwide success, topping the charts in twenty-one countries including the United States, Austria, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Iceland, Ireland, Lebanon, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden, as well as peaking within the top five in more than ten countries as United Kingdom, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Israel, Norway, Switzerland and Spain. In the US, it became P!nk's fourth number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. It also became her third number-one on the Billboard Digital Songs chart after "So What" (2008) and "F**kin' Perfect" (2010). "Just Give Me a Reason" has sold more than 4 million digital downloads in the United States. "Just Give Me a Reason" has won the Billboard Mid-Year Award for Favorite Hot 100 No. Single. "Just Give Me a Reason" garnered two Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Song of the Year at the 2014 Grammy Awards, where P!nk and Nate Ruess performed the song after a trapeze-accompanied rendition of "Try." The music video for "Just Give Me a Reason" featured Nate Ruess as well as P!nk's husband, motocross racer Carey Hart, in a romantic setting which resembles an artificial marsh. The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Collaboration in 2013. Background The writing of The Truth About Love started in February 2012. The track "Here Comes the Weekend" was originally going to be the lead single of the album until "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" was written. "Blow Me (One Last Kiss) was leaked in early July and eventually released on July 3, 2012. On September 6, 2012 (also the day of Pink's MTV performance) the second single "Try" was released to Australian radio. "Just Give Me a Reason" also features Nate Ruess from the American band fun. Originally it was just a song writing session but she realised that she needed someone else to sing the song with her because she thought that it was more of a conversation than a one perspective song. She asked Ruess to do it with her but he was at first reluctant. In the end she finally got him to do the song. According to what she said during VH1 Storytellers, P!nk's initial thoughts were "How do I trick him into doing the song with me?" She also spoke of how much she loved Ruess's voice. When further commenting on the song, P!nk stated that: "It’s a beautiful song, I’m really proud of it. The track was originally supposed to be only me, but I thought it needed the other person’s perspective. Nobody could’ve done it better than Nate." The song is about the desire to hold on to a relationship even when it appears to be breaking down and was inspired by a hypothetical argument over butter. P!nk told music streaming service Spotify: Sometimes partner can be like, 'The way you passed me the butter this morning, I kinda feel like we're going to be over in a month and we need to talk' and he's like, 'I just passed you the f---ing butter, what are you talking about?' and that's how I felt the song should go, 'We're growing apart, you don't spoon any more, like it's all over'.''http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=27327 Nate Ruess told MTV News: "Writing the song was a whole different learning experience and was really fueled by the fact that Alecia is so strong and independent and so very much herself. At the end of the day it's so hard to argue against her because what she does it always so great." http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=27327 At one point, P!nk told Spotify: ''I was like, 'no, this is a story, this is a conversation this song' - it needs the other perspective whether it's a guy and a girl, or two girls or two guys. 'I came in and tried to convince him that this was how the conversation was going to go and it was interesting you know, he was like 'I'll just do the demo cos I don't know about duets' and I totally tricked him into doing it, and I am so glad I was able to. 'I think now he's very happy that he did it." http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=27327 Composition "Just Give Me a Reason" is a pop ballad written by Pink, Nate Ruess and Jeff Bhasker and is produced by Bhasker. It starts of with simple piano playing. Pink then starts to sing the first verse and chorus. The chorus introduces drum machines and bass. The second verse is then sung by Nate Ruess and the rest of the song is sung as a duet. It has the duration of four minutes and two seconds. Chart performance On the week of October 6, 2012, "Just Give Me a Reason" debuted at number 106 in the US and at number 75 in Canada. That was the same week that the second single of the album ("Try") debuted at number 56 and 26 Respectively. "Just Give Me a Reason" has also debuted at 65 in Switzerland and 168 in France. Release and music video After over a month of rumors regarding a single release for the song, it was confirmed to be the third single from the album on December 14, 2012. Pictures were posted on Twitter of P!nk lying in a bed with a man (assumed to be her husband, Carey Hart); the pictures were from the video for her new single. Being that this would be lyrically correct if the video resembles the lyrics of the song (as she sings in it: "You've been talking in your sleep", and Ruess sings "You've been having real bad dreams, you used to lie so close to me, there's nothing more than empty sheets betweeen our love, our love"), this further hinted that "Just Give Me a Reason" would be the third single. The pictures were deleted immediately, and P!nk Tweeted how much she was in disbelief that someone would post the pictures. P!nk also confirmed that the video she shot for "Just Give Me a Reason" featured Nate Ruess, and she planned to top her hugely successful music video for "Try" with this upcoming video. Speaking about the video, Nate Ruess stated that, "I just saw a rough cut of it and it was unbelievable. I shit you not. I went into it just obviously coming from a completely different world than where P!nk is from. Writing the song was a whole different learning experience and was really fueled by the fact that Alecia is so strong and independent and so very much herself. At the end of the day it's so hard to argue against her because what she does it always so great." He further stated that he was "very pleased with the double-breasted coat that I wore". The offcial video was released on February 5th, 2013. Synopsis The video features P!nk floating on a mattress in the water with a teddy bear that has glowing eyes. Next to the mattress is a television. P!nk is seen moving around on the best and lying there in discomfort; in between this are shots of P!nk on a white backdrop singing. A dark shadow appears next to her; it is eventually lightened and revealed to be Nate Ruess singing to her. P!nk is also seen lying in a boat with her husband, Carey Hart. The two are touching each other provocatively and lying with one another. At the end, they are also shown kissing in the water together. At one point in the video, Ruess is shown singing in the television next to P!nk's mattress as well. Lyrics References Category:Songs Category:Songs from The Truth About Love Category:Singles Category:Singles from The Truth About Love